Language

What a joy words are! I know it is a shock to have a newspaper editor tout the previous sentence, but my current enjoyment in the world of language doesn't come from a newspaper, a magazine article or a well-written book. It comes from the mouth of my daughter, Isabelle, who will not turn 2 until May. It has been amazing to watch that little sponge learn so quickly. Seemingly just yesterday, she was frustrated by her inability to communicate with us through words and resorted to more overt methods of getting her point across.

GAYLORD — Gaylord High School students had their most successful year ever at the 2010 “Foreign Language Day” competition at Central Michigan University (CMU) on April 30. “Thirty GHS students competed in different French and Spanish events against other high school language students across the state,” according to Laura Hotelling, GHS Spanish and theater teacher. “Gaylord came home with six awards, two first places and four third places. It’s the most we’ve ever won.” Sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, CMU has held the annual competition for more than 25 years.

The language we use to describe our world and our attitudes is important. It can direct what we feel about the subject addressed. Consider, for example, the different feelings associated with the two phrases "pro-life" and "anti-abortion. " There is a serious language-associated problem that we face almost every day in political reporting. It is the use of sports-related language to describe the political process. In what is commonly called the political arena (sports language)

Editor's note: This story is an updated version of a story posted on Monday, Dec. 10 CHARLEVOIX --The residents behind an effort to recall three Charlevoix City Council members cleared the first hurdle in their effort Monday, when the Charlevoix County Election Commission approved the language that will be circulated on the petitions for signatures. On Monday the election commission found that the language for all three petitions met the standard for clarity required by state election law. The law requires that "each reason for the recall stated in the petition is of sufficient clarity to enable the officer whose recall is sought and the electors to identify the course of conduct that is the basis for the recall.

CHARLEVOIX - The residents behind an effort to recall three Charlevoix City Council members cleared the first hurdle in their effort Monday, when the Charlevoix County Election Commission approved the language that will be circulated on the petitions that will be circulated for signatures. On Monday the election commission found that the language for all three petitions met the standard for clarity required by state election law. The law requires that “each reason for the recall stated in the petition is of sufficient clarity to enable the officer whose recall is sought and the electors to identify the course of conduct that is the basis for the recall.” The petitions seek to recall council members Jill Picha, Bryan Vollmer and Dennis Kusina for their participation in a special meeting on Aug. 9 at which the council approved construction of a community fireplace in East Park.

MIDDLEBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) - Residents in Middleborough have voted to make the foul-mouthed among them pay fines for swearing in public. At a town meeting Monday night, residents voted 183-50 to approve a proposal from the police chief to impose a $20 fine on public profanity. Officials insist the proposal was not intended to censor casual or private conversations, but instead to crack down on loud, profanity-laden language used by teens and other young people in the downtown area and public parks.

Video Stories PELLSTON - Markers, colorful rugs and instructional aids create a typical preschool setting. The children sing and play with delight. But the nursery school rhymes and numbers are taught in Anishinaabemowin words. "Aanii (Hello) Isabelle," the children cheer. "Aanii," she responds with hugs. Isabelle Osawamick, an Anishinaabemowin teacher with the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians brings puppets, storybooks, drums and props to share animated lessons in the language.

Emmet County officials are not satisfied with the language of a recent bill passed into law that gives all-terrain-vehicles and off-road-vehicles the right to travel on county roads. The bill, authored by Rep. Joel Sheltrown, D-West Branch, is meant to give ATVs and ORVs the right to travel along the shoulder of certain roads between approved trails similar to snowmobiles. However, Emmet County officials said they were reluctant to move forward because a Supreme Court ruling states that the maintained portion of the road exists between the two white lines.

A groundbreaking new course is being offered at Harbor Springs High School - Anishinaabemowin, the native language of Odawa Indians. Having Problems? Update Flash. The class, which is a collaboration between the Little Traverse Bay Bands (LTBB) of Odawa Indians and Harbor Springs Public Schools, began in September 2007 - the beginning of the current school year. According to officials from the Michigan Department of Education, no other public school system in the state is currently offering a "Native American" language course for credit toward graduation.

The culture, language, tales and legends of area Native Americans is carried on in the capable hands of Simon Otto and Fred Harrington Jr. The two men were recently honored by SBC Michigan and WCMU Public Broadcasting with Native American Excellence Awards. In accepting the awards, both told of the impact their ancestors had on their lives, prompting them to be teachers of language, culture and storytelling. Both of them expressed how important it was that what has gone before would be carried on in the future.

Carla Osawamick stands in front of a class of students with a wide range of life experiences, from one still in high school to a great-grandmother. The students all have one thing in common: they are dedicated to learning and speaking Anishinaabemowin, the language spoken by many Native Americans in the Great Lakes region, including the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. Osawamick is teaching an intermediate language class at North Central Michigan College in Petoskey, where two sections of beginning and two sections of intermediate courses in the language are offered.

HARBOR SPRINGS -- Aanii Biindigen. Miigwech baamaapii. Hello, come in. Thank you, until later. Those traditional greetings in Anishinaabemowin, the language of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, were lettered on the front door Tuesday at Out to Lunch, a breakfast and lunch restaurant on State Street in Harbor Springs, embracing the language of the people who first lived in Northern Michigan. The move is one Odawa tribal members hope the local community in and around Harbor Springs -- where the tribe is based -- will potentially begin a movement to embrace its local Native American heritage.

In a small village in the Canary Islands people communicate by whistling to one another. These aren't the kind of whistled catcalls that New York City construction workers make to pretty ladies walking by in red dresses. These whistles compose actual conversations - from greetings and small talk about the weather, to village gossip, dinner invitations and, yes, probably romantic propositions too. Sadly, the language is fading, and only a handful of villagers are fluent in whistle-speak anymore.

Editor's note: This story is an updated version of a story posted on Monday, Dec. 10 CHARLEVOIX --The residents behind an effort to recall three Charlevoix City Council members cleared the first hurdle in their effort Monday, when the Charlevoix County Election Commission approved the language that will be circulated on the petitions for signatures. On Monday the election commission found that the language for all three petitions met the standard for clarity required by state election law. The law requires that "each reason for the recall stated in the petition is of sufficient clarity to enable the officer whose recall is sought and the electors to identify the course of conduct that is the basis for the recall.

CHARLEVOIX - The residents behind an effort to recall three Charlevoix City Council members cleared the first hurdle in their effort Monday, when the Charlevoix County Election Commission approved the language that will be circulated on the petitions that will be circulated for signatures. On Monday the election commission found that the language for all three petitions met the standard for clarity required by state election law. The law requires that “each reason for the recall stated in the petition is of sufficient clarity to enable the officer whose recall is sought and the electors to identify the course of conduct that is the basis for the recall.” The petitions seek to recall council members Jill Picha, Bryan Vollmer and Dennis Kusina for their participation in a special meeting on Aug. 9 at which the council approved construction of a community fireplace in East Park.

Nothing like a little trip outside the states to let you know how poor Americans are when it comes to having a second language. Basically for us it's English or nothing. For many of the visitors here to the Netherlands Antilles from foreign lands, there is always English as their backup language. For us there's nothing. Residents of the ABC islands get Dutch and Spanish in school but most also know English and that wonderfully mixed language called paliamentu - a mix of Dutch, the original island language, other foreign tongues and pieces from the African slaves who were brought here.

MIDDLEBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) - Residents in Middleborough have voted to make the foul-mouthed among them pay fines for swearing in public. At a town meeting Monday night, residents voted 183-50 to approve a proposal from the police chief to impose a $20 fine on public profanity. Officials insist the proposal was not intended to censor casual or private conversations, but instead to crack down on loud, profanity-laden language used by teens and other young people in the downtown area and public parks.

WHO: Charlevoix County commissioners WHAT: Tackle busy agenda of hot topics WHERE: Charlevoix County building, 203 Antrim St., Charlevoix WHEN: 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 25 CHARLEVOIX - A busy agenda awaits Charlevoix County Board of Commissioners Wednesday night. Board members are expected to decide whether to award a construction contract for a more than $190,000 Boyne Falls substation for the Charlevoix County Sheriff's Office, as well as whether to put several millage requests before voters in August, among other issues.

What a joy words are! I know it is a shock to have a newspaper editor tout the previous sentence, but my current enjoyment in the world of language doesn't come from a newspaper, a magazine article or a well-written book. It comes from the mouth of my daughter, Isabelle, who will not turn 2 until May. It has been amazing to watch that little sponge learn so quickly. Seemingly just yesterday, she was frustrated by her inability to communicate with us through words and resorted to more overt methods of getting her point across.

I often feel that recipes can seem confusing and overwhelming to the uninitiated. Appearing to be hard and rigid rules, a recipe should really be a framework from which the cook works with and adds or subtracts their own items and techniques. Here's how to decipher a recipe to get to a great end result. Any recipe that is worth its weight will give you enough tidbits of information throughout the recipe that you should be able to reproduce a reasonably accurate copy of what the author (or test cook)